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all the known towns and villages.

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during the US Revolution.

A History of York County

Presbyterian Church - York County,
South Carolina

York County is located in the north-central
portion of South Carolina and is bordered by the state of North
Carolina to the north, Chester County to the south, Lancaster
County to the east, and Cherokee and Union counties to the west.
Natural boundaries include the Broad River on the west and the
Catawba River on the east. All of York County is located within
the Piedmont, a one hundred mile wide belt of land extending
from the sand hills of northeastern South Carolina to the Blue
Ridge Mountains in the state's northwestern corner. The Piedmont
is characterized by varied terrain, ranging from rolling hills
in the southeast to very steep hills in the northwest.1

York County is heavily wooded in many rural areas, as evidenced
by the significant role played by the timber industry in today's
local economy. Cotton, historically the dominant crop,2 is still
grown, though not to as great an extent as in the past. York
County still retains a predominantly rural character, the major
exception being the county's eastern third. This section includes
Rock Hill, which is by far the largest city, as well as the smaller
towns of Fort Mill, and Tega Cay, along with growing residential
development along Lake Wylie. Much of the growth of northwestern
York County is due to increasing development pressure from nearby
Charlotte, North Carolina.

Many think of York County's history as beginning in the 1770s
shortly before the American Revolution, but by that time the
area was well on its way to developing a rich heritage. In the
1540s, Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto passed through the area
in his search for gold, which eventually led to his death on
the banks of the Mississippi River. Following De Soto came Juan
Pardo. Pardo entered what is now York County during his travels
through South Carolina in the late 1560s and recorded his observation
of a predominant Indian tribe, later confirmed to be the Catawba,
in the vicinity of present-day Fort Mill on the eastern bank
of the Catawba River. Before De Soto, Pardo, and other Europeans
arrived, the area was the domain of the Catawba Indians, a band
of Siouan speakers numbering about 6,000 at the time of the first
European contact.3 Primarily agriculturists, the Catawbas gave
much assistance and support to their new neighbors.

The colony of South Carolina began in 1670 when British settlers
under the sponsorship of eight proprietors planted a settlement
near present-day Charleston. From the Charles Town settlement
(named after King Charles II) on the South Carolina coast, the
eight Lords Proprietors established one of the early British
colonies south of the Chesapeake Bay. Twelve years later the
colony was divided into three counties for administrative purposes.
Craven
County, encompassing roughly the northern half of South Carolina,
included the land which would eventually become York County.

Allied by blood and religious affiliations, the Scots-Irish
sought to escape a hard life in Ulster of Northern Ireland by
migrating to the American colonies. The first European settlers
in the Carolina Piedmont, or backcountry as it was called, were
these Scots-Irish Presbyterians. In order to rid themselves of
the ever increasing rents and land prices in Pennsylvania, and
with the opening of new and more fertile lands to the south where
they would be free to practice their Calvinistic brand of religious
beliefs, these Scots-Irish Presbyterians migrated southward.
Coming predominantly from former homes in Pennsylvania, Maryland,
Virginia, and North Carolina down the "Great Wagon Road,"
these early pioneers began arriving in the region west of the
Catawba River during the mid to late 1740s and eventually drifted
into what would become York County in the 1750s.

Prior to the establishment of a dividing line between the
two Carolinas, the area to become York County was part of Bladen
County, North Carolina. In 1750, it was included in the newly-created
Anson County, NC. The first land grants and deeds for the region
were issued in Anson County, North Carolina.

The Carolina backcountry was nearly devoid of European settlers
prior to 1750, but by the time the American Revolution reached
the area in 1780, the backcountry contained an estimated population
of more than a quarter of a million.4 The largest proportion
of these were Scots-Irish Presbyterians,5 although there were
also numbers of English, Welsh, native Irish, native Scots, Swiss,
French, and Germans.6

By 1760, the whole Carolina backcountry was ablaze with activity
caused by the migrations. Two years later, Mecklenburg County,
NC was cut from the western end of Anson and included the lands
of present-day York County. The area next became part of Tryon
County in 1768 when the Colonial Assembly of North Carolina set
aside all the land west of the Catawba River and south of Rowan
County. The York County area would remain a part of Tryon County
until 1772, when the boundary line between North and South Carolina
was finally established.

From 1772 until the end of the Revolutionary War the area
was known as the New Acquisition and ran approximately eleven
miles north-to-south and sixty-five miles from east-to-west.
Finally in 1785, York County became one of the original counties
in the newly-created state. Its boundaries at the time of creation
have remained unchanged to the present day with the exception
of a small area in the far northwestern corner of the county
(originally Cherokee Township), separated in 1897 and included
in the formation of Cherokee County.

The first European settlers in the region migrated into York
County from the east, northeast, and southeast by way of Mecklenburg,
Lancaster and Chester counties. They settled in a dispersed community
pattern denoted by its communal, clannish, family-related groups
known as "clachans," much the same as they had in Pennsylvania
and Ulster. The clachans developed around the Presbyterian Kirks,
or meetinghouses, and became the forerunners of the congregations.7
These congregations generally encompassed a five-to-ten-mile
radius centered on the meetinghouse, and contained anywhere from
20 to 500 families.8 The church, therefore, became the focal
point of backcountry society, and around these churches settled
the new residents of the region, eventually creating the present-day
congregations. In York County, the "Four B" churches
(all Presbyterian) of Bethel, Bethesda, Beersheba, and Bullock
Creek became the first religious and social centers in this Scots-Irish
stronghold.

For purposes of self-defense, the settlers of the backcountry
began military drilling soon after they entered the region. Finding
themselves sandwiched in between unfriendly natives to the west,
(primarily in the form of Cherokee, Shawnee, and Creek) and indifference
on the part of English officials in Charleston, who considered
residents of the backcountry uncivilized, the early settlers
frequently found themselves the targets of Indian raids. In a
region so often ignored, the local militia became an early police
force, patrolling the area for possible Indian or slave troubles
and controlling the seemingly numerous outlaw bands which roamed
the region.9 The militia system in the backcountry was born of
necessity.

Militia units, or "Beat Companies," enrolled every
able-bodied man on the frontier.10 Although the militia system
gave some limited military training to the men of the county,
it never developed enough to enable it to wage an all-out war.
The one advantage, however, which the militia systems brought
to the area was their social organization. This organizational
base contributed to the state's ability to fight for the next
hundred years.

As the American Revolution in the South approached, militia
service became instrumental in turning the tide of war against
the British. The section of South Carolina known as the "New
Acquisition" was the scene of significant activity during
the war. The battles of Huck's Defeat and King's Mountain were
both fought on York County soil. At first, however, the residents
of the backcountry did not readily take sides in the conflict.
They were content to remain neutral as long as they were left
alone. Most of the backcountry approached the war with the attitude
that the conflict was between the British Crown and Charleston
aristocrats and, as such, did not concern them.

The people of York County entered into vocal opposition to
Royal authority in 1780 after three "invasions" of
the region; first by Colonel Banastre Tarleton and his "Green
Dragoons," and subsequently by Lord Cornwallis on two separate
occasions. After the British capture of Charleston and Buford's
Massacre in Lancaster County in May 1780, most of the state's
population cowered or capitulated to British designs. While British
terms and paroles were accepted across the state, the residents
of the backcountry continued a regional resistance, led by men
such as William "Billy" Hill, William Bratton, and
Samuel Watson. Lord Cornwallis was persuaded to look more northward
for salvation instead of this "nest of hornets" in
which he found himself.

The American Revolution in the backcountry brought great economic
hardship, but it also brought new opportunities, particularly
in the role of increased self-government. The residents of the
backcountry, having played a significant role in the defeat of
Tory forces within the state, enjoyed a greater share in the
voice of administration in their region following the war. The
entire backcountry experienced phenomenal growth as huge numbers
of new residents crowded into the region during the 1780s.

An act of the South Carolina General Assembly established
York County in 1785. In the first census of the United States,
taken five years later, York County contained a population of
6,604. This population, however, was not of the "planter
class" that so many people raised on "Gone With the
Wind" identify. Of those 6,604 counted in 1790, 923 were
listed as slaves, and one-quarter of these belonged to just nine
men. York County had less than 15% of its population living in
bondage in 1790, while the state averaged around 30%.11

Steps to establish a county seat were first taken in 1786
with the laying out of a town on the site of Fergus's Cross Roads.
The name of the crossroads originated with two brothers, John
and William Fergus,12 and was the crossing of six roads near
the geographic center of the county (near the present location
of Congress and Liberty Streets in York). The six routes were
important wagon roads; one running northwestward from the village
of York toward Kings Mountain known as the Rutherford Road, one
running southwestward toward Pinckney's Ferry on the Broad River,
one running south to Chesterville, one running northeastward
toward Charlottesburg and the Catawba River known as the Armstrong
Ford Road, one running eastward towards Nation Ford on the Catawba
River, and the sixth running southeastward to Landsford on the
Catawba River in Chester County.

The new town became known as the village of York, or more
commonly York Court House within a few years. In 1841, when the
town was incorporated, the name officially became Yorkville.
Nearly all of the original lots were sized with a width (or street
frontage) of 66 feet and a depth of 330 feet. A public spring
was established and utilized by the early residents as a source
of drinking water and for washing clothes.13

William D. Martin, a future member of the South Carolina House
of Representatives, traveled through the village of York in May,
1809, and gave a description of the town in his journal. "Its
local situation is pleasant & interesting. The scite [sic]
is on a plane of some length, near the centre of which is a small
eminence, on which is built the Court House, a neat brick building.
The private houses also, are principally of brick, & very
far excel those usually built in similar places."14

The population of the village in 1823, as recorded by Robert
Mills, stood at 441 and included 292 whites and 149 blacks. In
his Statistics of South Carolina, Mills provides us with a good
view of the village of York in 1826. The town was "regularly
laid out in squares" containing "8 stores, 5 taverns,
a male and female academy, post office, and a printing office,
which issues two papers weekly." Brief descriptions are
also given of the new courthouse, the public jail, and several
residences. Mills concluded that the village at that time had
a bright future. "The increasing prosperity of this village,
its salubrious site, interesting scenery, contiguity to the mountains,
and cheapness of living, will have a tendency to give it a preference
in the minds of those who are seeking residence in the upper
country."15

By 1840 the population of the town had reached 600; by 1850
Yorkville contained 93 dwellings and 617 inhabitants.16 In the
years just prior to the Civil War, the town gained a reputation
as a summer resort for many lowcountry planters trying to escape
the malarial swamps of the lowcountry for the moderate climate
to be found in the upstate. By 1860, the population of the town
had topped 1,300, an increase of more than 125% in only one decade.17
During the Civil War, the town also became a focal point for
residents from the lowcountry as a refugee destination during
Federal occupation of their hometowns.

York County as a whole experienced significant growth during
the antebellum years, and the increase occurred primarily among
the black population. With the introduction of the cotton gin
in the 1790s, the county's future was established. As the importance
of "King Cotton" grew, so too did slavery become an
integral part of the economic life of the county. The cotton
boom, which had a tremendous impact on the entire southeast,
greatly influenced agriculture and slave holding patterns in
the South Carolina backcountry, including York County. In 1793,
all of South Carolina produced only 94,000 pounds of cotton,
and most of this was grown in the Sea Islands. In 1811, however,
the backcountry alone accounted for over 30 million pounds.18
Obviously, cotton production greatly changed life on farms throughout
the South Carolina backcountry. While in 1800, 25% of all white
families in the backcountry owned slaves, by 1820 nearly 40%
of the families were slaveholders.19

Slave ownership increased significantly in York County between
1800 and 1860, though most slaves worked on small and medium
sized farms rather than large plantations. In 1800, whites made
up 82.1% of the total population in York County, indicating that
slave ownership had yet to become common. By 1820, however, the
white population accounted for only 68.6% of the total, indicating
that the institution of slavery had taken hold, and by 1860 the
white percentage of the county's total population dropped to
62.5%.20 York County figures from 1860 reveal that slave holdings
were relatively small, with approximately 70% of all farms holding
fewer than 10 slaves and less than 3% of the farms holding 50
or more.21 Nearly 20% of all York District farms in 1860 had
less than 50 acres of land, 23.9% contained from 51 to 100 acres,
53.9% ranged from 101 to 500 acres, and only 2.7% had over 500
acres.22 The average number of improved acres of York District
farms in 1860 stood at 153.3.23 These figures substantiate the
premise that York County was primarily a region of small and
medium-sized farm operations during the antebellum period. Although
some large plantations existed in York County, they were not
the norm.

Twenty short years following the first census, York District
had increased in population to more than 10,000 - of which over
3,000 were slaves. As the county's dependence on cotton grew,
its dependence on slave labor to produce the crop also grew.
By 1850, York District topped 15,000 residents, over 40% of which
were slaves.24 On the eve of the Civil War, the county's population
grew to approximately 21,500 with almost half of the population
enslaved labor.25

During this period York County was heavily tied to agriculture,
with 93% of the work force involved in raising crops in 1850;
this at a time when the rest of the United States averaged a
78% agricultural work force. Only 13% of the York County population
was involved in industry of one form or another.26

The ante-bellum period saw the establishment and growth of
several rural settlement areas and communities in York County.
In 1825, only three post offices were in operation in all of
York County, at Yorkville, Blairsville, and Hopewell.27 By 1852,
however, York County contained 27 post offices, a clear sign
that the county was becoming increasingly settled. A fairly extensive
system of roads was also in place by this time.28

Signs of growth and prosperity from the early nineteenth century
can be seen in the establishment of York County's first newspaper,
The Yorkville Pioneer, in 1823. Although this publication was
only in operation for slightly over a year, it was followed by
several others, including The Patriot, The Whig, The Journal
of the Times, The Yorkville Compiler, The Yorkville Miscellany
and, in 1855, The Yorkville Enquirer, which remains in publication
today.29

A major factor in York County's mid-nineteenth-century growth
was the arrival in the eastern part of the county of the Charlotte
and South Carolina Railroad, opened in 1852. While construction
progressed on the Charlotte and South Carolina, residents of
Yorkville and western York County realized they would also benefit
from rail access. Chartered in 1848, the Kings Mountain Railroad
Company began construction of a connecting line between Yorkville
and the Charlotte and South Carolina at Chester. This track was
completed in 1852. The resulting rail service provided a great
economic boost to York County, bringing new goods, offering an
easy source of transportation for the county's agricultural products,
and even adding additional employment opportunities. Rock Hill,
located on the Charlotte and South Carolina, rapidly developed
as a transportation center in eastern York County, and yet by
1860 it contained no more than 100 residents and remained little
more than a crossroads settlement.30

Education played an important part in the lives of the early
residents. Stemming from the great importance placed upon education
by the Scots-Irish Presbyterians, numerous schools operated within
the county prior to the Civil War. More than a dozen academies
were operating at the outbreak of hostilities.31 These academies
flourished throughout the county and provided instruction in
a variety of subjects, including reading, writing, and arithmetic,
as well as geography and rhetoric. The most famous was the Kings
Mountain Military Academy in Yorkville, founded in 1854 by Micah
Jenkins and Asbury Coward.32

On the eve of the war, York District was one of the more populated
districts in upstate South Carolina. The 1860 white male population
of York County was just over 5,500.33 When war broke out, the
men of the county rose to the support of the Confederate cause
in numbers large enough to create fourteen infantry companies
(not to mention many more who saw service in different cavalry
and artillery regiments, and those that joined outside the county).
The companies formed had colorful names: Jenkins' Light Infantry,
Whyte Guards, Carolina Rifles, Kings Mountain Guards, Catawba
Light Infantry, Bethel Guards, Lacy Guards, Indian Land Guards,
Palmer Guards, Campbell Rifles, Turkey Creek Grays, Indian Land
Tigers, Mountain Guards, and the Broad River Light Infantry.

Ebullient about a quick and glorious victory over the "invader,"
many of these men would pay a heavy price for their support of
the Confederacy. During the war, York District would have the
highest death rate of any county in South Carolina.34

Even though only one (minor) battle was fought during the
Civil War in York County (the battle for the Catawba Bridge at
Nation Ford in 1865), the war caused a great upheaval in the
county that was not soon overcome. Growth was halted, and in
fact Yorkville itself actually contained fewer residents in 1880
(1,339) than it had in 1860 (1,360).35 Gradually, however, signs
of recovery appeared.

Though York County never developed a plantation economy to
match that of the lower Piedmont and the state's coastal region,
Reconstruction did bring changes to established agricultural
patterns. Many of York County's larger property owners were forced
to sell off portions of their land to smaller farmers, for without
slave labor they could not productively work such large land
holdings. As a result, the size of the average farm in York County
dropped considerably while the number of small farming operations
increased.36 Late-nineteenth-century agriculture in York County,
as in much of South Carolina and the southeast, was characterized
by relatively small farm operations and ignorance concerning
soil qualities and the benefits of diversification. As a body
of knowledge emerged concerning scientific farming practices,
advocates of diversification urged farmers to avoid relying on
a single crop (typically cotton) and instead plant a variety
of crops and raise livestock. This advice was generally ignored,
contributing to the agricultural difficulties of the 1920s and
1930s.37

The post-Civil War economy in York County, as in much of South
Carolina, was characterized by an expanding transportation network
and growth in the commercial and industrial base. The railroad
played a major role in bringing York County out of its post-war
economic decline. In 1872 a plan was developed for the construction
and extension of the Kings Mountain Railroad. The Carolina Narrow
Gauge Railroad Company was incorporated in North Carolina, followed
by the incorporation of the Chester and Lenoir Railroad in South
Carolina. The Chester and Lenoir was authorized to construct
a narrow gauge railroad from Chester through Yorkville and on
to some point on the North Carolina-South Carolina line, thus
consolidating the Kings Mountain Railroad with the Carolina Narrow
Gauge and bringing rail service to western York County. On the
other side of the county, the Charlotte and South Carolina Railroad's
bridge over the Catawba River was replaced and allowed the Rock
Hill vicinity to begin economic recovery.

The eventual revival of the cotton market through technological
advances was another reason why York County recovered from economic
devastation brought by the Civil War. In 1880, the establishment
of the Rock Hill Cotton Factory (the first steam-powered cotton
factory in South Carolina) ushered in a new era of agricultural
expansion and, even more significantly, industrial development.
The Rock Hill Buggy Company, founded by John Gary Anderson, originally
began as a small operation and eventually grew to become the
highly successful Anderson Motor Company, the first automobile
manufacturing facility in the South.38 Rock Hill experienced
profound growth between 1880 and 1895, its population rising
from 809 to over 5,500.39

Since 1900, York County has continued the pattern of growth
begun around 1880, but with one obvious and rather extended exception.
This was a period of decline initiated by the failure of the
cotton industry in the early 1920s; the Great Depression of the
1930s thus continued the county's stagnation. Between 1900 and
1920 York County's population increased from 41,684 to 50,536;
a 21.2% increase. By 1930, however, the population total had
only risen to 53,418, or a 5.7% increase. By 1940, the figure
stood at 58,663, a 9.8% increase.40 Cotton production remained
the dominant agriculture in early 20th century York County, and
the textile industry continued to develop. Rock Hill became the
hub of this industry, while mills blossomed throughout the county.

South Carolina's peak cotton crop was harvested in 1921; thereafter,
cotton production began a long, steady decline. There were several
factors involved, the most important being destruction caused
by the boll weevil and soil erosion resulting from years of overuse.
In 1918, an all-time high of 49% of the state's cultivated land
was planted in cotton; by 1938 cotton accounted for only 10%.
New Deal programs of the 1930s prodded farmers into switching
to crops such as soybeans, which actually improved soil conditions.41
York County saw a similar process, as cotton gradually became
less and less important to the economy during the 1920s and 1930s.
The late nineteenth and early twentieth century trend toward
smaller farming operations was reversed, resulting in the smaller
communities no longer playing such an important role in offering
services to farming families. As a consequence, these communities
have declined or disappeared.

One of the most important developments in twentieth century
York County was the 1904 completion of Catawba Dam and Power
Plant, primarily due to the efforts of William C. Whitner. In
1899, Whitner founded the Catawba Power Company along with Dr.
Gill Wylie and his brother Robert Wylie. Construction on the
dam began in 1900, but the vastness of the project combined with
periodic flooding made progress excruciatingly slow. When finally
completed, however, the dam and power plant constituted one of
the most important engineering accomplishments in the southeastern
United States. The venture resulted in the eventual establishment
of the Duke Power Company, and a series of dams and hydroelectric
facilities were subsequently constructed on the Catawba River
in both North and South Carolina. The Catawba Power Plant itself
is credited with sparking the industrialization of the Catawba
Valley, as by 1911 more than a million textile spindles were
being powered as a result of this one plant.42

Regardless of Rock Hill's development into a mid-sized city,
the ever-increasing developmental pressure being exerted by nearby
Charlotte, North Carolina, and the decline of small-scale farming,
much of York County remains rural in character and has held on
to a good measure of its historic integrity. The county seat
of York remains a small town, clearly expressive of its lengthy
history, while several other smaller communities and many of
the rural areas offer confirmation of York County's developmental
periods through their remaining historic structures and sites.

5. Prior to the American Revolution, of the 37 earliest churches
founded in an 18 county region of the Carolina Piedmont stretching
from Rowan County, North Carolina to Fairfield County, South
Carolina, 31 were Presbyterian. By 1850, Presbyterians would
still be the most dominant religious group in York County, claiming
46% of the county's church-going population; Arnold Shankman,
et al, York County, South Carolina: Its People and Its Heritage
(Norfolk, VA: The Donning Company, 1983) 36.

6. Dr. David Bigger quoted an earlier historian as to the
ethnic makeup of York County on the eve of the Revolution as
being, "Scotch 70 per cent; English 20 per cent; the other
10 per cent composed of Welsh, Huguenot and native Irish. The
native Irish constituted less than 1 per cent." Evening
Herald, 30 October 1931.

7. Otto, Southern Frontiers, 65.

8. Slosser, Seek a Country, 68.

9. This vigilante type of justice system was evidenced by
the "Regulator Movement" of the South Carolina Backcountry
from the mid 1760s to early 1770s. For more information on the
Regulator Movement in the South Carolina Backcountry see, Richard
Maxwell Brown's The South Carolina Regulators.

24. 1850 Census of the United States of America: York District,
South Carolina.

25. York County, South Carolina, Population Schedules of the
Eighth Census of the United States, 1860, Roll 1228 (Washington,
DC: National Archives Publications).

26. Shankman, York County: 24; Ford, Origins, 50.

27. The Hopewell community is now located in present-day Cherokee
County. Harvey S.Teal and Robert J. Stets, South Carolina Postal
History and Illustrated Catalog of Postmarks, 1760-1860 (Lake
Oswego, OR: Raven Press, 1989) 113.

28. Teal and Stets, SC Postal History, 113.

29. For a complete listing of newspapers published in York
County throughout its history, see John Hammond Moore, South
Carolina Newspapers (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina
Press, 1988).

30. Rock Hill School District No. 3, We the People; A Study
of the Processes of Local Government as Exercised at Rock Hill,
York County, South Carolina (Rock Hill, SC: White Printing Company,
1970) 11-12.

31. United States Census, Social Statistics Schedules for
South Carolina, York District, 1860.

32. Soon after their graduation from the Citadel, prior to
the war, Jenkins and Coward came to Yorkville and began a private
military school.

Click Here
for the Source of this information. Link is current as of August
2005. Click
Here for an 1825 map of York District.YORK:
A UNIQUE SOUTH CAROLINA COUNTY
By Lawrence E. Wells
Editor of The South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research

For the writer York County is unique because he must go back
into the fourth generation of his ancestors (the "great-greats")
to find one who was born somewhere else.

When Robert Mills wrote his Statistics of South Carolina (1823),
in describing the conspicuous features of York District (county),
he remarked on the unusual attention paid to the dead. York County
was even then noteworthy for the large cemeteries, with most
graves marked by stone monuments, adjoining the Presbyterian
churches. These picturesque churchyards, at Bethesda, Bethel,
Sharon, Bethany, Beth-Shiloh, Olivet, or Smyrna, would still
inspire Thomas Grey to write more elegies. On the other hand
one finds in York County fewer private family burying grounds.
There are, of course, forgotten cemeteries in the woods, but
these usually mark the site of a defunct church. The cultural
pattern in York was to bury the dead in the consecrated soil
of a churchyard: a considerable boon to the genealogist.

When one examines the probate records of York County, it will
be noticed that in the prenewspaper days the Citation to Kindred
and Creditors will have a note stating that the Citation was
read from the pulpit of one of the churches, with the clergyman's
signature. When that bit of data is discovered, by all means
go the the cemetery of that church. This is a quick and easy
way to locate tombstones. It is also a good way to sort out different
families of the same surname, such as the Bethel, Sharon, or
Neely's Creek Campbells, or the Bethesda, Beersheba, or Bullock's
Creek Loves.

York has an outstanding and virtually complete corpus of county
records which begins in the year 1786. One remarkable record
group in that courthouse is the collection of records of the
Court of Equity, recently laminated and a joy to use.

The settlement of York County, however, ante-dated the erection
of the county by nearly two generations, and so it is necessary
for the diligent researcher to explore other county records scattered
through two states. When the earliest settlers arrived around
1750, there was no boundary established between the Carolinas.
Although the two provinces were disputing their respective claims
to the region, the area was generally supposed to belong to North
Carolina and to be part of the frontier county of Anson. Anson
County, NC still has its seat at Wadesboro, and the Register
of Deeds there has frequently answered inquiries by mail.

Shortly thereafter, the western part of Anson was set off
as Mecklenburg County, with a courthouse still in Charlotte,
and what is now York belonged to Mecklenburg. Mecklenburg County
deeds were published in the 1974 issue of the Georgia Genealogical
Magazine, abstracted by Brent Holcomb. In 1768, the part of Mecklenburg
west of the Catawba River was cut off to form Tryon County, NC.
Tryon soon had a courthouse located in the present York County,
between the town of Clover and the village of Bethany. The approximate
site of that courthouse has a highway marker placed by the York
County Historical Commission. Tryon County was eventually abolished
and split into the North Carolina counties of Lincoln and Rutherford,
and the Tryon records inherited by the new county of Lincoln,
whose seat is still at Lincolnton, NC. The Minutes of the Tryon
County Court, which mention many York County notables, are published
in the Bulletin of the Old Tryon County Genealogical Society.

In 1772, the boundary question was settled and what became
York County was thrown into South Carolina. Tryon County lost
its courthouse and perhaps a majority of its population. South
Carolina gained a well-populated piece of territory, peopled
almost entirely by Scots-Irish pioneers. Within what became York
County, there were already four Presbyterian churches, and by
the year 1800 there would be four or five more. Although Baptists,
Lutherans, Anglicans, and Quakers were nearby in both Carolinas,
these groups were conspicuously absent in York County.

When York County became a part of South Carolina in 1772,
it found itself in a Province of rather different traditions
in local government. North Carolina, like Virginia, had from
a very early time a system of strong county courts. These county
courts, consisting of several Justices of the Peace, or "Gentlemen
Justices," would sit together and hold court once a quarter.
The Court would record deeds, prove wills, grant letters of administration,
bind out orphans, license taverns, ferries, and grist-mills,
and compile records of inestimable worth to genealogists. But
South Carolina in 1772, a city-state ruled from Charles Town,
had only nominal counties, and York fell into the ill-defined
hunk of territory called Craven County. Equally meaningless was
the fact that it belonged to the Parish of St. Mark: we may be
very sure that the Anglican presence in York County at that time
was negligible, if not nil. The only hint of a Church of England
clergyman in the pre-Revolutionary York County was the chaplain
who accompanied Governor Tryon when he traveled through in the
1760s to survey the Indian boundary.

Under the new government of South Carolina, a resident of
York County area had to travel to the district capital at Camden
to enter a suit at law. To record a deed, prove a will, or obtain
letters of administration, he had to make the long trip to Charlestown.
But remote from Charlestown as it was, some records from York
County were recorded there which genealogist should not overlook.
At least two wills written by York County residents were recorded
by the Ordinary in Charlestown, those of John Bratton and Charity
Kerr. Surely there are more.

Under the new regime the area gained a quaint name: the New
Acquisition. Although not all of the territory "newly acquired"
by South Carolina through the 1772 survey was part of York County,
the importance of the well-settled region between the Broad and
Catawba Rivers caused the name New Acquisition to be used for
what later became York County. At the Provincial Congresses of
1775 we find representatives from the "District of the New
Acquisition," and the name stuck as late as the State Constitutional
Convention of 1790. The importance of New Acquisition District
is evidenced by the fact that in the Provincial Congresses it
was allowed fifteen representatives, while the "District
between the Broad and the Catawba" embracing the territory
south of New Acquisition, later divided into Chester, Fairfield,
and Richland Counties, was allowed only ten.

In 1781, while the Revolution was still going on and Charles
Town was in British hands, Governor Rutledge appointed Ordinaries
for each of the seven districts. This placed a Court of Ordinary
in Camden, and for the few years that office existed, Wills and
Administrations from York were handled and recorded there. These
records finally found their way into the Kershaw County Probate
Judge's office and are extant. These neglected probate records
of Camden District, in which numerous York pioneers are mentioned,
are currently being published inn The South Carolina Magazine
of Ancestral Research.

We now have a long list of counties whose records must be
searched in order to trace an early York County family: Anson,
Mecklenburg, and Lincoln in North Carolina; Charleston, Kershaw,
and York in South Carolina. And even all that searching is not
exhaustive. York County was settled from two directions. There
were new immigrants from the port of Charlestown (the McKnights
and the Beersheba Loves, for example) and overland pioneers whose
backgrounds were in Pennsylvania and Virginia (the Brattons,
Guys, Bethesda Loves, Watsons, Henrys, and many others). Therefore
the records of many counties in Pennsylvania and Virginia are
essential for any thorough search, notably Chester, Lancaster,
York, and Cumberland in Pennsylvania, and Orange and Augusta
in Virginia.

A final observation and a question. York County was one of
those South Carolina counties created by the County Court Act
of 1785, and that piece of legislation gave the county its name.
The 1785 act was a program to create counties of the kind found
in Virginia and North Carolina. The lowcountry region flatly
rebuffed the program, but in the upcountry the county court concept
took hold and thrived. This was because the people of the upcountry
were not only dissatisfied with the inconvenience of having their
affairs in mesne conveyance and probate handled in Charleston,
but were also experienced with county government in the provinces
to the north whence many of them came. David Duncan Wallace has
written in his Short History of the "incompetence"
of the county courts erected in 1786 and gives this as the explanation
of their abolition in 1800, when they gave way to districts,
smaller than those districts created in 1768, but set up more
or less the same.

But, when one peruses the earliest Minute Book of the York
County Court, which got right down to business in January of
1786, one is not left with an impression of incompetence at all.
The Justices were diligent in being present for court. Several
had formerly been members of the Tryon County Court and were
experienced in procedure. The clerk, John McCaw, made clear and
literate records. In the first year of its existence, the court
had established a permanent site for its seat (at Fergus Crossroads,
later called Yorkville), begun a courthouse, "gaol",
and set of stocks, appointed constables for every section of
the county, named road managers and ordered several new roads
to be laid out. Whatever may have been going on in forgotten
counties such as Lincoln, Bartholomew, Winton, or Lewisburg,
the York County Court was obviously doing its job effectively.

This is the question. It is a firm tradition that York County
took its name from York County in Pennsylvania because many early
settlers came from the northern county. The only contradiction
worth mentioning is an early newspaper article which says the
name came from an early settler named Jonathan York, but this
seems doubtful. The earliest usage of the name York was in the
County Court Act of 1785. Is there any real contemporary documentary
evidence for the source of this name?

York County,
formed prior to 1750, organized 1798, was known as the New Acquisition,
and was settled for the most part by Scots-Irish Presbyterians
who came from Pennsylvania and gave to their new home the name
of a county in their mother colony. A Presbyterian minister named
Richardson, graduate of Princeton, organized Bethel church in
1764 and in 1769, Presbyterian churches were organized at Bullocks
Creek, Bethesda, and Ebenezer. The Rev. Joseph Alexander, noted
teacher and patriot, was pastor of the Bullocks Creek church.

The people of the Scots-Irish county were strong, morally,
mentally, and physically. They were industrious, self-reliant,
deeply religious, and in their descendants these characteristics
are perpetuated. To build an enduring and prosperous nation they
perceived they must have school houses and churches. They proceeded
to establish them, and their posterity has most liberally maintained
these institutions since the county's earliest days.

In 1920, York County had a population of 50,536, estimated
at 52,133 in 1925, and Rock Hill, its chief town, had 8,809 inhabitants
in 1920, but, with those living in the environs, the number is
estimated at a much higher figure now. Fort Mill's population
by the last census was 1,946; Clover's people numbered 1,608;
Hickory Grove had 301; McConnells, 247 ; Sharon, 419 ; Tirzah,
160 ; Smyrna, 101. York, with 2,731 inhabitants, is the county
seat and is a town of rare and distinctive beauty, so visitors
say. In the Carolinas is no other town like York.

The county has 651 square miles. North Carolina borders it
on the north, the Catawba river runs through its northeastern
side and forms its southeastern boundary. The Southern railway,
Seaboard Air Line, and Carolina and Northwestern railway, with
a total of 101 miles, traverse the county. It has nine accredited
high schools. Its fertile soil yields an annual average of 30,000
bales of cotton, and an abundance of wheat, oats, rye, corn,
peas, cane and other crops of the Piedmont country. A number
of commercial peach orchards have been planted and promise to
be lucrative.

The Wateree Power company on the Catawba and the Southern
Power company at Great Falls and at Ninety-nine Islands furnish
abundant hydroelectric power not only for manufactories now operating
but sufficient for great and progressive expansion of industries.

One million dollars has lately been expended for the construction
of 45 miles of hard surfaced roads and another million of bonds
has been voted to complete the hard surfaced county system, and
the topsoil roads are extensive and well maintained.

Last year 15,319 children were in the public schools, of whom
8,225 were white and 6,994 colored. Every year $400,000 is used
for the maintenance of these schools and the value of the school
buildings in the county is in excess of $1,000,000.

No county in South Carolina has a citizenship of sturdier
virtues and greater intelligence. Along its northwestern border
runs the Kings mountain range and the Kings mountain battle field
and battle monument (shown in picture) are in York county's territory.
Ancestors of many York families fought in the battle and many
another engagement of the Revolution. Their virtues live in their
sons.

Immediately above, published in "South
Carolina: A Handbook," prepared by The Department of Agriculture,
Commerce, and Industries and Clemson College, Columbia, South
Carolina, 1927. Copyright not claimed.